The big news in the garden is the arrival of a couple of siskins. We haven’t seen these members of the finch family for several years. In this photograph the male is on the left on the nyger seed feeder. I thought I saw them briefly the other day so I’m pleased to get confirmation.

It being a bright day I took a few shots down ANR in the morning. An egyptian goose and a group of red crested pochard were the most colourful but I did see reasonable close-up views of male and female goldeneye, snipe, a thrush (singing) and a small flock of greenfinches (less common than they used to be).

This  Egyptian goose seemed to be calling for a mate between bouts of preening.

The male is on the left. These will be descendants of exotic birds imported for country house ponds in a previous age and they have been known to breed at Attenborough.